Posts Tagged ‘draw faces’

Ok, I’m back in Zbrush sculpting cartoon characters. I started out by exploring various head shapes; from their I selected a couple out of the bunch and roughed out a few cartoon faces from the shapes. I kept the sculpture process simple and a little rough, in an attempt to build up my understanding and skill in the 3D program. As I make more time in my schedule, i will eventually get to do more detailed and polished work.

The course’s focus is an introduction to observe & invent the human figure; it includes over 200 slides of great art with commentary and comparisons between anatomy plates and finished works. The course showcases the work and teaching of George Bridgman, and his influence on illustrators such as Frank Frazetta.

Also, what makes this anatomy workshop unique is, the way Vandruff teaches you to really observe anatomy by showing the contrast of two completely different approaches to studying anatomy. One approach is the form and simple shapes; second more completed and finely detailed renderings from another artist. Lastly, he shows a way to quickly remember the names of the bones and muscles as well as where they’re located.

Artist and Instructor Michael Hampton is releasing a revised 2011 edition of his remarkable book on figure drawing, anatomy, design and invention. I was very pleased and gained so much insight from Hampton’s mastery, experience, and theory on the human figure. This book is hard to get a hold of since its’ self published by the author. My advise is to get it as soon as it hits the online stores. Also, This is a must have book for anyone that want to take their figure drawing to the next level.

Check out further information below!

4th edition coming out September 2011! The 4th edition has updated chapters on drawing the arms and legs.
Originally published in August of 2009, this book gives a process-based approach to learning to draw the figure. The book has received much praise, and is used as a reference text by schools and animation/game art companies alike. More info

I was extremely inspired by Ian McCaig when I saw him on the panel at Gnomon Live in the summer of ’08. McCaig has been working in the entertainment industry as an artist of many hats; cconcept designer, illustrator, animator, and screenwriter. I purchased his DVD training tutorial titled, “Visual Storytelling with Ian McCaig” What’s unique about this title is the many dimension in which he breaks down the fundamentals of drawing and storyboarding.

In Vol.1 he explains while simultaneously tells and draws out the Anatomy of a story. It’s really amazing how he wings a story, explains the basics, of story telling, and able to draw it as fast as he’s telling it. Very nice details are in the drawings as well. Once he’s finished sketching and telling the story, he show’s you his painting process.

I highly recommend getting this DVD.(There are 4 volumes to complete the set)

Other notes on Ian McCaig:

Iain is an internationally recognized and award winning artist and one
of the motion picture industry’s leading conceptual designers. His exceptional command of human anatomy, character, emotional expression and visual narrative make him on of the most sought after artists working in the entertainment industry today. He has worked for Lucasfilm as one of the principal designers on Star Wars Episode One—The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode Two—Attack of the Clones, and: Star Wars Episode Three—Revenge of the Sith. His work includes the landmark designs for Queen Amidala and Darth Maul. His other film credits include: James Cameron’s ‘Terminator II’, Steven Spielberg’s ‘Hook’, Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Dracula’, Neil Jordan’s ‘Interview With the Vampire’, Sony/Revolution/Universal’s ‘Peter Pan’, and Warner Brothers’‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’. He is also Co-Producer and Concept Design Director on Ascendant Pictures’ science-fiction epic: ‘Outlander’

I recently checked out this book “The art of drawing people. This a great book on learning to draw people(portraits, figures, etc.). It is broken down into 5 sections. Four of the sections are broken down by 4 different skilled artists. The first section gives a brief introduction for supplies, basic principles for drawing, composition, etc. The second section is discussing and illustrating anatomy. The third section covers faces with a simple style approach. The fourth section covers people, using formulas for faces, anatomy, very realistic, etc, The fifth section covers other sections and approaches to drawing people.

One of the other great features in this book is the diversity of step by step drawing of people; covering very young children, teens, young adults, mature adults, elders and many different ethnic backgrounds. This is one of those books that will be in constant use for many years.

I recently bought this book off amazon. What I liked most from this title is the style and tons of examples on illustrating fantasy characters. It’s not exactly a how to draw book. It’s more for people who already have solid drawing skills and want to take it to another level by, demonstrating great compositional skills, how and where to find classic reads for inspiration, setting up live models, and props for realistic reference drawing.

After completing the entire training series I can give a more thorough review.

Riven Phoenix presents a unique way of thinking and breaking down the human body in your mind. He states clearly that this is a GENERAL approach(meaning generic) approach to drawing the figure. Inventive drawing(Phoenix) is different from drawing what you see(life drawing). Most of his lessons are only 7-15 minutes; so you’re not going to get a super dynamic demonstration but a general idea and general observational approach.. It has helped me a lot. I’m not a concept artist but have decided to explore and try to get into it now. I have some formal school training with live models and Illustration but I need to expand my knowledge of the figure. My biggest problem was always seeing the figure as a complex subject. I needed to find a different approach to figure drawing. Studying Phoenix’s approach, combining my studies from life drawing, and drawing what I see, is helping me bridge the gap. Now, I can make more sense out of what I’m drawing by adding an abstract (generic approach along with using a more consistent study tools of great anatomy books and life drawing).

Final thoughts: Riven Phoenix has a good niche for what he does to help certain types of artists. Depending on your level of understanding this series may or may not help you. It has definitely helped me and yes I would recommend it. The best way to learn is to go along with his tutorials but also reference back with a good anatomy book to sharpen and enhance your studies. His techniques are good for helping work out your characters and figures. You would use this for a solid understanding when creating and working out your characters; especially when you have to work quickly and meet deadlines. When you think about it, if your drawing out storyboards or character sheets for a company, you just need the general (basic) idea of anatomy to get your ideas flowing quickly. Anatomy for life drawing is just that; realistic, detailed and accurate drawings for anatomy only, not necessarily for commercial entertainment. A good contrast is myself and my best friend. I’m pretty descent with drawing portraits and likenesses from life and photos. My buddy is better with inventing out his head. He didn’t have patience with drawing from life; he’d rather look at a person for a while, and then go home and re-invent the image from his head and get a likeness. So it really depends on where you’re at as an artist and being open with other perspectives on learning to better yourself.

I give The Riven Phoenix Structure of Man DVD drawing course 5 stars. Also, don’t think that this is the only series that you need to study to achieve mastery. This is groundbreaking, but this is just the beginning. Practice, Persistence, Passion, Patience, Love, and an Open Mind will all play a part in achieving a mastery level of drawing the figure from your mind.

For more info on Riven Phoenix Structure of Man ( Drawing the human figure from your mind)check out his website:

Yes, this is another tutorial by Riven Phoenix that I studied from. In this tutorial we are drawing and understanding the muscles of the face. One half shows the muscles, the other half is a generic concept of how the face looks with the skin over the muscles.

Here are some studies of the torso. I have a better understanding of the torso since I, took a thorough observation of the proportions relating to the size of skull. Nipples start at 2nd head, width of torso(shoulders) are found by dividing the width; front view of the head. Add that width twice to get torso and shoulder width.

ALSO: Note this is an earlier study of the torso. The measurement of the chest should be lowered down slightly from the 2nd head. The nipples line on the second head, then the bottom of chest. From there the abs begin to attach.

You will see this update in the advanced study of the torso coming up.